E Team

Half elementals engaged in extraplanar mayhem

Session 23

Under the Boil

27

APR/08

(Ryan:)

The ETeam continues on their quest to get revenge on the mercane Aridus Brisbane by removing his syndicate’s magical protection from the heat of the Plane of Fire. They escape from a trap, defeating an undead mercane accountant. A new clue leads them to a hidden passage into the lava tubes underneath the molten mud boil next to the mercane colony. There, they encounter mephits and an unlikely “noble”...

At the end of the previous session, the ETeam was exploring the basement of the mercane consortium’s manse on the plane of Fire. Rock and Snow had just walked down a short flight of steps, where they triggered a symbol of pain which afflicted Rock. Then a strange looking mercane, with white skin and wrapped in an outfit of leather straps, levitated down out of the ceiling and landed next to the top of the steps…

Nift and Mistral could see that the mercane mummy intended to tip over a stone shelf next to the stairway, thus blocking the opening and trapping their colleagues. Desperate to prevent this, they unleash some of their most potent powers: Mistral a haste spell, and Nift his new half-elemental power wall of fire. But the mummy seemed unfazed by the blazing barrier, reaching through it to tip over the heavy shelf. The shelf landed with a dull boom, plugging the stair opening perfectly. Clearly, the E-Team had stumbled into a well-designed ambush.

Wracked with pain, Rock tried to push the shelf up from below but failed. Nift and Mistral faced off alone against the mummy. Mistral unleashed a lightning bolt, but the mummy shrugged it off. Nift’s attacks failed to connect; both noticed that their foe seemed well protected by several magical effects. The creature whirled and nailed Nift with a mighty slam. Mistral prepared a dispel magic, but before he could unleash it, Nift finally got a clear look at their enemy1. Its terrible visage filled them him mind-numbing fear rooting to the spot, paralyzed. Things looked pretty grim for Mistral, now fighting alone…

Luckily, however, Mistral’s dispel worked better than he could have hoped. As Rock managed to push the shelf up a few inches, allowing Snow to peer out, the mummy suddenly shrieked, its flesh beginning to char and smoke. Apparently, in addition to some other effects, Mistral had dispelled the creature’s protection from fire, and now Nift’s wall was taking a heavy toll. Snow saw the mummy click its heels together, then it rose into the air, passing again through the ceiling and out of sight.

The E-Team took advantage of this reprieve to regroup. Rock managed to tip the shelf enough that he and Snow were able to scramble out. Snow healed the still-paralyzed Nift, while Mistral investigated the ceiling. A thrown coin passed through it as if it wasn’t there, and now Mistral could see that it was, in fact, an illusionary wall. The heroes watched it warily…

A few seconds later, Nift’s wall winked out. Apparently waiting for this, the mummy immediately descended from above once again. Now Snow, Rock, and Mistral were all exposed to the creature’s fearful visage, and all three succumbed to its paralyzing power. But Nift had finally fought off the crushing despair and was once again able to act. He drew upon the power of the touchstone he had recently acquired and dropped a fireball on the mummy. Rock was also caught in the effect, but it was a small price to pay as the mummy shrieked and burned. When the smoke cleared, little was left but a burned husk lying still on the floor.

Once the others had shaken off the paralysis, they explored the area past the illusionary ceiling. They found a small space filled with stack after stack of large, leatherbound ledgers. One was open on a small desk next to a quill and pots of red and green ink. It appeared that the fierce undead mercane was also an accountant, endlessly checking and cross checking the books on the mercane syndicate’s far-flung ventures.

1 The DM initially forgot about the mummy’s Despair ability which should have kicked in during the initial surprise round, so it was not until a later that the heroes “got a clear look” at the mummy. This probably worked to the advantage of the PC’s.